Jessica Darnell says she moved in with Claire Hall in 2020 with her children, trusting her because she was a county commissioner. While paying $1,000/mo. rent, Jessica later learned that another resident, Ben Bloom (formally Michael Garrison), was a registered sex offender—information she says Claire never disclosed. Bloom babysat her baby and drove her teenage daughter and friends to school. After an incident in which Jessica suspected her son was harmed, Bloom left the home. Jessica later learned that Claire had previously tried to help Joshua Ewing, accused of molesting her daughter, get out of jail to live with her. Jessica says this shattered her trust and prompted her to speak publicly. Full transcript below.
Newport Police Report 22N-000011 A.pdfGarrison #1.pdfGarrison #3.pdfJoshau Scott-Ewing Risk Rating.pdfPre Trial Hearing Ewing #1.pdfJudgement - Joshau Scott Ewing #2.pdfJoshau Scott Ewing #1.pdfThe court held a hearing on Scott Ewing’s motion to return $25,000 in bail posted by his grandmother after he failed to appear for a scheduled court date. Defense counsel argued that Ewing was arrested and returned to custody within 30 days of the court’s April 15 notice of potential forfeiture, and that under the statute the money should therefore be returned, minus fees. The state opposed, emphasizing that Ewing knowingly failed to appear, was aware of the warrant for months, did not turn himself in, and violated conditions of his security release, including failing to stay in contact with counsel. The judge found that Ewing breached the security release agreement and did not take reasonable steps to protect his grandmother’s funds. The court declined to refund or forfeit the money at this stage, ordering it held pending the outcome of the case, and denied any release based on the held funds.
The court heard Joshua Scott Ewing’s request for release based on applying a previously posted $25,000 bond toward his $250,000 bail. Defense counsel argued Ewing did not knowingly fail to appear for a prior court date, blaming miscommunication with his attorney, and proposed release conditions including housing and employment offered by Commissioner Claire Hall. Pretrial services opposed release without strict conditions, citing Ewing’s awareness of an outstanding warrant for over four months, multiple prior failures to appear, and a high-risk assessment. The state emphasized Ewing’s criminal history and pattern of noncompliance. The judge denied the request, finding Ewing violated clear release conditions—especially the duty to contact counsel weekly—and failed to take reasonable steps to address the warrant. The court ordered no conditional release or bail reduction, leaving prior decisions in place and setting a future trial status date.
My name is Jessica Darnell and I asked to do this video because there is a lot of misinformation out there and I wanted to make things right. So in 2020 I moved in with Claire Hall with my baby and my two daughters and I moved out in 2022. I did trust her to move in because she was the county commissioner. She's, you know, and while I lived there, I paid $1,000 in rent.
And Ben Bloom did live there. He was residing there before I even moved in. And I didn't know he was a sex offender. And Claire didn't tell me about that.
And I actually let him babysit my baby at the time. And he actually drove my teenage daughter and a lot of her friends to the high school in the mornings. And one day I had went to work. I needed him to babysit.
And I came home and as soon as I walked in the door, he says, "Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Jackson got hurt, but he fell on his toy." And so I kind of examined, looked at it. I wasn't sure.
So I called his father and his father was like, "No." So I immediately went into the bedroom where him and Jamie Catherine were and I said, "What did you do to my son?" And he straight ahead at the TV. wouldn't even look at me. And I told him, I said, "You need to get out of here or I'm going to call the police." And he did. And the him and Jamie Catherine packed up all their belongings and moved to Arizona. And as far as I know, they're still there.
And police came. One time the police showed up. And I was scared. I was afraid.
And I Claire immediately said, "Take my car and you guys can get out." So we, you know, piled up in her car and left. I just recently heard about how Claire, uh, before I moved in, she had actually, let, tried to get Josh Ewing out of jail. He was in jail for being under investigation for molesting our daughter. And she tried to get him to live with her to get him out of jail.
And when I lived with her, his stuff was everywhere all around the house. and I just didn't put two and two together. So when I heard about that, I asked her I sent her a Facebook message and I said, "I just was told that you were trying to get Josh Ewing out of jail when he was in jail for what he did to my daughter." And she said, or I asked her about it. I said, "Who was that? Who was that?" She said, "It was Josh Ewing." And I said, "Why would you do that?" And she said, "I believe everybody deserves second chances." And I haven't spoken to her since then.
I really trusted Claire. I voted for Claire. I always stood up for her. I just didn't know the type of person that she was.
And I did not think she would. I couldn't believe it when she told me. Just, yeah. I, let, was going to let Josh live there.
And that just proves that that's why she let Ben live there, cuz she believed he deserved a second chance. And I just wanted to get this out, because I believe it's important for everybody to know that, things, she does allow people like that to live in her home.
Last updated 12/30/25 @ 10:04 pm